Manufacturers see good jobs go unfilled as Brooklyn residents lack work experience

HELP WANTED: Erik Johnson struggles to find skilled workers for his specialty workshop.

Businesses have long complained about the struggle to find skilled employees, but this is ridiculous: Of 3,600 applicants for 91 manufacturing jobs in Brooklyn, only 35 were hired.

The scenario played out over the past year as the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce attempted to help local manufacturers fill the positions, which ranged from leather seamstress to metal polisher to woodworker to coffee-roasting apprentice. They did not require advanced education.

“We’re not filling the jobs. What is the disconnect?” wondered Carlo Scissura, president of the chamber. “I think many of them probably need additional qualifications, additional support.”

Erik Johnson, a Brooklyn entrepreneur who listed some of the 91 openings, agreed. His business, Argosy Designs, which specializes in custom metalwork and has grown from a basement experiment into a 9,000-square-foot shop with 16 employees, has had to turn away business because he can’t find applicants with hands-on experience.

“Things that have no relevance at all to manufacturing—working at Modell’s as a shoe salesman, it just doesn’t apply,” Johnson said. “I get a lot of those kind of résumés. Or none at all—I get guys who’ve got no job experience.”

While Johnson is willing to train an apprentice, one would need some basic skills to start. Recent technical school grads are versed in high-tech practices, but Johnson, a former artist, runs an all-manual shop. “Those artistic people, the kind of guys I used to hire early on, cool Brooklyn dudes who do other stuff, they can’t afford to live here anymore.”

“It’s been a real struggle,” said Johnson, whose shop has high-end clients including the Ace Hotel and the Mondrian SoHo. “Every time we advertise, it’s a real slog. It’s a difficult process.”

Attempting to close the gap, three Brooklyn Chamber staffers coldcalled businesses with openings and sought to connect them to funding for on-the-job training. The staffers disseminated the openings to community workforce providers, posted listings online and visited public-housing campuses to recruit. But the overwhelming number of eager applicants lacked the skills to nail down the jobs.

“We have a workforce team, they’ve been out looking for people, and the bottom line is that they haven’t found people for these positions,” Scissura said. “These are jobs ready to go.”

Some of the positions offered hourly salaries in the $20-an-hour range and above, though many were closer to the minimum wage, $9.

Creating more programs that fund companies to pay trainees could help, Scissura said. But to flourish in Brooklyn’s artisanal manufacturing boom, employers must gamble on inexperienced workers— just as workers take the risk when specializing in a niche trade.

“They’re real jobs, the pay is pretty damn good, you don’t need a college degree, we have a good benefits program,” Johnson said. But “there’s no lightning bolt where you’re suddenly a master fabricator,” he added. “It’s time spent.”

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